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A7
news
Wednesday, May 13, 2015 www.guardian.co.tt Guardian
Miguel Moses
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GAIL ALEXANDER
Government s annual Performance
Report (2014) shows a need for con-
certed efforts with regard to the mur-
der detection rate, the maternal mor-
tality rates and the diabetes mortality
rates in T&T, according to Planning
Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie.
Tewarie was giving a synopsis of
two documents which he laid in the
Senate yesterday, namely, the annual
performance report 2014, entitled
Making Progress, Strengthening a
Nation, and the National Monitoring
and Evaluation Policy (NMEP) T&T.
"These documents are important as
they show this government s commit-
ment to giving an account of its stew-
ardship to the people...Both serve as
essential tools by which citizens can
be informed and made aware of gov-
ernment s work in achieving national
outcomes and targets identified and
(can be) used as a means of reporting
on what your government has done,
how well and [how] much we need to
do in others," Tewarie added.
He said the annual report on per-
formance was a reflection of progress
over the past four years made within
eight key areas, 52 national indicators
and 23 national outcomes, as stated
in the National Performance Frame-
work. The information is based on
data submitted by all ministries
through bi-annual reporting tem-
plates.
RACHAEL ESPINET
Faced with a large number of
wild fires, the Ministry of the
Environment and Water
Resources is considering amend-
ing the Agriculture Fires Act to
increase the fines for setting fires.
Minister of State in the Ministry,
Ramona Ramdial, said yesterday
that the ministry was considering
an increase of fines from the cur-
rent $1,500 to $10,000.
She was speaking during a joint
press conference held by the Min-
istries of the Environment and
Water Resources and National
Security. The conference was held
at the Knowsley Building, Queen s
Park South, Port-of-Spain.
"I want to reiterate to the public,
that the severe consequences
resulting from these forest fires
will be witnessed very soon and I
make reference to flooding, land
slips, landslides, loss of wildlife,
and even loss of human life during
the rainy season [because] of these
forest fires and the impact of the
dry season," she said.
However, Ramdial said, to date
there was yet to be an arrest made
for setting fire to the land.
According to records from the
Forestry Division, there have been
a total of 268 wild fires that
destroyed 908.85 hectares of veg-
etation---227.59 hectares belonging
to private land and 663.31 hectares
belonging to state land.
To date, the Forestry Division
has suppressed fires at the Caura
Hospital, the Hillview Secondary
School, the Caroni Bird Sanctuary,
San Fernando Hill, Nariva Wet-
lands, Mt St Benedict, Lady Chan-
cellor Hill, Lopinot, Quinam, and
Blue Range, Diego Martin.
Ramdial noted that most of the
lands along the foothills of the
Northern Range were privately
owned, and she called on private
land owners to also be cognisant
of the environment.
She asked them to not inten-
tionally set fires to clear land during
the dry season because these fires
were escaping and hundreds of
hectares were being burnt in the
end.
"I am making a public appeal
to the citizens of Trinidad and
Tobago to be cognisant of the envi-
ronment and to implement pre-
ventative measures as we move
along into the rainy season," she
said.
Ramdial said research by the
Forestry Division showed that 100
per cent of the wild fires were
caused by humans.
She said along with the amend-
ment to the Act, the ministry
intended to build retaining ponds
along the Northern Range and
other areas for easier access to
water. Also, it would be training
personnel in Forest Fire Fighting
and Aerial Fire Suppression. The
ministry is also looking into pos-
sibly leasing a Forest Fire Water
Plane.
She said the Forestry Division
was attempting to cut fire traces
in different areas to allow fire fight-
ers to have easier access and she
called on private land owners to
allow the authorities onto their
land so that they could create the
fire traces.
Chief Fire Officer Roosevelt
Bruce said this year there had been
a large number of fires.
"This year we have a hectic May,
which is not normally the most
hectic bush fire month. Last year
we had 300 odd fires for the entire
month. This year, so far it is the
12th, and we have 202 bush fires,"
said Bruce.
Currently, there are 23 fire sta-
tions operating and there will soon
be 16 more, five new ones and 11
refurbished ones. Addressing spec-
ulation that the fire stations do
not have the necessary appliances,
Bruce stated that every station had
at least one appliance.
Garvin Heerah, director of the
National Operations Centre (NOC),
said they were working with the
Fire Service to help in the outing
of large fires, particularly those in
inaccessible areas.
Minister in the Ministry the Environment and Water Resources Ramona Ramdial, second from left, sits with
director of the National Operations Centre, Garvin Heerah, right, and the acting Chief Fire Officer Roosevelt
Bruce during a joint media conference on forest fires at Knowsley Building, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
PHOTO: MARCUS GONZALES
Report rates
Govt performance
GEISHA KOWLESSAR
PNM Senator Camille Robinson-Regis has
called for the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic
Bill, 2014, to go before a Joint Select Com-
mittee for further examination and for var-
ious issues to be dealt with before it became
law.
She also warned that if there was no proper
policing, the legislation would be pointless.
Robinson-Regis made the comment during
her contribution in the Senate yesterday.
Mentioning legislation which prohibited
texting while driving and legislation which
required that seatbelts be worn, Robinson-
Regis said these laws were not always enforced.
"The question that keeps troubling me is
the issue of policing. Right now we have a
situation where people are supposed to wear
their seatbelts, children are supposed to be in
their car seats, persons are supposed to drive
without their cell phones and also drive without
drinking.
"But the policing of this has not been
extremely effective and if this legislation is to
have any real effect we need to understand
what would be the mechanism for really effec-
tively policing all of these changes that would
be taking place," Robinson-Regis said.
Another factor of concern in the bill was
the fact that police officers would also be
required to assess people suspected of using
drugs.
"That is going to create some issues and it
is something that needs more careful consid-
eration and we need to look at that a lot more
closely because there are some concerns where
people are wondering how that would work
effectively.
"How do you ensure that a blood test would
be taken when it would most effectively show
that someone is under the influence of drugs?"
Robinson-Regis asked.
Senator and Planning Minister Bhoe Tewarie,
who agreed that policing was an issue, said
sometimes the police officers were better at
lockdowns, referring to the nationwide road-
block which crippled the country on March
23.He said the highest road deaths figures
were on Independence Day and New Year s
Day.
In her contribution, Senator Rev Joy Abdul-
Mohan called on parents to ensure their chil-
dren were properly secured in the car, saying
too often children were spotted "jumping up
and down" while in the back seats.
Opposition Senator Shamfa Cudjoe also
called for the bill to go before a Joint Select
Committee.
Call for new road bill to go before JSC
Fines for forest fires may rise